Retail market indicators

In our monitoring of the retail energy market for gas and electricity, we collect and analyse a vast range of data. Our retail market indicators give a snapshot of this monitoring. They draw from a comprehensive framework which underpins our ongoing monitoring, including our annual update on the retail energy markets in Great Britain. You can view these updates in the related publications section below. 

These market indicators and data are not intended for use or to be relied on for any commercial purposes. View copyright and disclaimer.

If you have feedback on the indicators, please contact us.

There were 18 active suppliers in the domestic gas and electricity retail markets as of September 2025. This consisted of 16 suppliers active in both gas and electricity, 1 in gas and 1 in electricity, with no entries or exits during the third quarter of 2025.

For our classification of suppliers by size see the ‘information tab’ of the market share indicators either for electricity or gas. 

Gas prices generally decreased throughout February, mainly driven by milder weather lowering demand and ample LNG supply. This was particularly true for day-ahead and front-month prices which had been higher during January as forecasts of another cold snap never materialised. Prices further along the curve trended upwards at the end of the month as geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran increased prior to war breaking out on the last weekend of February. 

EU storage withdrawals continued but at a slower pace than January, with fullness decreasing by c. 10ppt. to 30% at the end of February, compared to c. 20ppt. across January. Power prices generally tracked gas prices downwards but fluctuated slightly more as wind generation changed. Strong wind generation at the start of the month drove additional decreases in power prices, particularly in the day-ahead market. 

Additionally, carbon prices decreased noticeably, by 17% in the second week of February, following announcements from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that the EU ETS needed reform. UK carbon prices correlate with EU ETS prices and further contributed to the overall decline in power prices throughout the month.

For more detailed updates on wholesale prices visit Wholesale market indicators | Ofgem.

In February 2026, the number of new fixed tariffs on offer increased compared to January 2026. Around 77% of these offers were available to the whole market rather than exclusive to specific customers with most prices being lower than the price cap for 1 January to 31 March 2026.

The average fixed tariff was priced at £1,654 in February 2026, £5 higher than in the previous month.

The average price of SVTs with large legacy suppliers for a typical dual fuel customer paying with direct debit remained at £1,758 which is aligned with the current price cap. The market cheapest tariff decreased this month, now standing at £1,505 compared to January 2026. The cheapest tariff basket decreased from £1,560 in January 2026 to £1,540 in February 2026. See methodology for information on how the cheapest tariff basket is calculated.

The update of all profit and average bill indicators based on Consolidated Segmental Statements (CSS) has been paused. Only three large domestic legacy suppliers (British Gas, EDF and Scottish Power) and one non-domestic supplier (SSE) had submitted a CSS under the regulation before consultation in 2023. This information was insufficient to generate market representative statistics. A review of the CSS obligation is now completed and will expand CSS reporting to most of the domestic and non-domestic market. This will apply to supplier financial accounts for 2023 onwards with publication 10 months after the company’s financial year end. We intend to resume the publication of these indicators as soon as new data becomes available.  

Read Reviewing the Consolidated Segmental Statements – our decision for more information. 

Read Energy companies’ Consolidated Segmental Statements (CSS) for more details. 

The Market Stabilisation Charge was a temporary measure in place from 14 April 2022 to 31 March 2024 which required all domestic suppliers acquiring a domestic customer to pay a charge to the losing supplier when wholesale prices fell considerably below the relevant wholesale price cap index. For more information about the MSC read - Market Stabilisation Charge dashboard | Ofgem. 

In January 2026, the total number of switches across both fuels increased by 17% compared to December 2025. Electricity switches increased by 14% from 223,748 in December 2025 to 256,169 in January 2026 and gas switches increased by 21% from 165,499 to 199,485 over the same period. The share of customers switching to other suppliers increased by 9% for electricity and 8% for gas in January 2026 compared to December 2025.

Suppliers’ Customer Credit Balances (CCBs) are an important aspect of the retail energy market, and this is reflected in licence obligations in relation to both consumer standards and supplier financial resilience.

The data below reflects Ofgem's chosen policy measure. This is for Fixed Direct Debit domestic customers.  This focuses the analysis on how households are impacted by CCBs. We have ‘netted off unbilled consumption’ meaning that energy you have paid for but not used does not feature. Finally, as Customer credit balances are seasonal (they rise in summer months and are then spent in colder winter months) we have included the yearly average to disaggregate the seasonal variation from its underlying trend.

These figures reflect households that are in credit, the values are true as of the last day of each calendar quarter (31 March, 30 June, 30 September 31 December).

Finally, the use of quartiles may be impacted as usage changes in the future, which would need to be reviewed and recognised.

This data is published by the end of March, June, September and December each year.  For further information see customer credit balances explanatory note.

We have selected this range of indicators to support general understanding of the market, including how they contribute to the key priorities outlined in our strategic narrative. We also aim to provide a picture of the market where it is not produced elsewhere, or where there is scope for us to set a clear methodology for the data.

Our data comes from sources that are either publicly available, provided by third parties or from responses to Ofgem information requests. Specific sources and relevant dates are listed with each indicator. We are grateful to third parties for allowing us to reproduce their data. 

Most of these indicators will be updated quarterly while still allowing access to historic information. Updates will depend on the availability of data for an indicator. 

We will review the indicators periodically to ensure they continue to help promote transparency and understanding of the retail energy market and as additional sources of information become available.